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Anoriel
Anoriel is a minor character in the tale of Oropher's House. She is a child between Feren's son, Erumollien, and an Easterling noblewoman. She is written to have met Fíli in Mirkwood during her days as a scout and had formed a strong bond with him during the dwarves' incarceration. She is also known to have encountered Matámelcan during her brother, Meludir's, archery training. "You are perhaps the first being on Arda to have wholeheartedly apologised to me for calling me what I am." '- Anoriel to Fíli at the eve of their first day in the Mirkwood dungeons.' Biography Childhood Anoriel was born during the wintertime and was not named with Anoriel. She was cut out of her mother's womb due to an emergency that threatened both her and her mother's life. At her mother's insistence, her grandfather, Feren, cut her out to save her life. This led to her mother's death. And with her mother's passing, came the name Amarthgugma.https://forest-family-au.wikia.com/wiki/Anoriel#Notes 1 Driven to a grief-driven madness, Anoriel was neglected by her father, Erumollien, who would only look upon her for a few seconds with an expression somewhere between pained and hateful before leaving her. This led to Feren practically raising her as his own. But despite it all, Anoriel never resented her father. She in fact, adored and revered him. Her grandfather raised her with tales of romance about her parents. To her understanding, it was all her fault that her mother died and had she not been born then her mother and father would be happier. Her family was not a wealthy one and Feren had given her dresses that her grandfather and mother had made when her mother was expecting her. But shoes were not made for her due to her mother and grandfather arguing about the practicality of the clothing articles. So she went about the Woodland Realm with bare feet. It was when she was four that she met Meludir Valdaglerionion who was the first Elfling that approached her without judgement and had even offered his boots to her when he noticed her bare feet. It was this action that led to their closeness and Feren had immediately encouraged their friendship despite Meludir's parents' misgivings. But despite all the hopes of friendship that she had found, Anoriel had seen the near invisible bond between her and her father had vanished as she grew older. No matter that she had come into his room some nights, seeking solace from a nightmare and only received silence as an answer or that she had given him a short poem for his Name Day that was fed to the fire. Nothing of Erumollien seemed to hint at his love for her. And so, Anoriel - then Amarthgugma - would turn to her grandfather for nightly greetings. In her fifth year, Erumollien left. A week after her Name Day. She simply awoke and went to her father's room only to find it empty. A thunderstorm came that night and it served to ingrain that memory to her mind. Thunder became the forewarning of abandonment for the Sun's daughter and she feared it with her very soul. It was this that led the child who never stopped loving her sire, to begin fearing the start of love. For she had seen the grief of it and she wished it not on anyone. She clung to Meludir but begged him they only be friends. She embraced her grandfather but she never told him of her love for him. She grew into a subdued and quiet child, easy to frighten when rain begins and hard to smile when the sun shines on the rivers. Six months after Erumollien had left his daughter, Feren named Anoriel after her mother's nickname for her. Sun-Daughter. But it was done as his attempt to change a name that he felt had doomed her happiness with the meaning it spelled for anyone knowledgeable enough. Adopting of Meludir When she had turned seven years, she was quiet still. But she had Meludir with her and they were rarely seen apart. The two of them were always holding each other's hands and when they were running through the woods, Anoriel is seen wearing ill-fitting boots as Meludir ran unshod. But during a Fall Hunt, their merry days full of chasing one another shall be abruptly stopped. An orc raid happened in the depths of the forest and along with it came the spiders. Meludir and Anoriel were playing in the public gardens when the horn of the Greatwood's army was sounded and before long, Feren had run to them and had taken the children to hide inside Anoriel's home as Feren ran off to fight. By the end of the attack, a quarter of the forces that had come to lend aid were dead. Among them was Valdaglerion and Tirannaniel, Meludir's parents. Anoriel had accompanied Feren and Meludir at the mass funeral held for the fallen warriors, embracing her grieving friend and whispering assurances to him. Though Meludir was pained by his parents' deaths, he took Anoriel's words to heart and clung to her as tightly as she clung to him. Seeing this bond, Feren did not wish for Meludir to be simply sent to any family, knowing full well that some might forbid Meludir from meeting his granddaughter. Feren then petitioned directly to the King that he be allowed to take Meludir as his foster-son. After that day, Anoriel and Meludir were good as siblings and neither one nor the other were seen alone. It soon became a common sight to see Meludir carrying the bare-footed Anoriel after training, sometimes it would be noted that Meludir would take Anoriel to the public baths of the Greatwood and would guide her to the deepest ends of the pools to teach her to swim. It was during a solo practice for Meludir that the siblings encountered the nephew of the King, Matámelcan, who Anoriel observed to have advised Meludir on his archery on the long bow. Despite her curiosity towards the Greatwood's Royal Family, she was still wary of speaking to anyone who is not her grandfather or Meludir. Though it was soon made clear to her that Matámelcan would approach her since Meludir had pointed her out. Though she thought the King's nephew was nice enough, she still found herself uncomfortable with speaking to him. A Scribe's Heart As Anoriel grew older, she found her heart easily lifted from her woes and heavy thoughts through writing. She felt that this was similar to Meludir's love for sketching her or Feren in the height of his sleepless nights when both were too tired to train but too awake to sleep. And so her secret entries had begun. She would find any sheet of blank paper she can afford to take and many times a night she would write her deepest thoughts and emotions best she was capable of. But the moment she had finished writing, her writings only ever reached one person. Meludir. He was the only one who was permitted to read her thoughts and emotions. The only one who read her musings. Because the moment she had seen her brother finish reading her works, she would then burn it. Her brother only managed to save only one piece from many and it was with a near endless argument that he had convinced her to allow him to keep her work. Though she was unaware of it, her brother and grandfather had been planning to save what they can so she may travel to Imladris and learn from its scribes there. But even as Anoriel did her best to cultivate her love for writing and reading, she had also kept watch over everyone else's interests. She would often write short musings when she was alone of her grandfather's sacrifices or her brother's paintings. They were plain and unexciting but she wrote them almost as if a reminder to herself. Though none ever knew what that reminder really was. Life as a Peredhel As the years passed and Anoriel grew to her maturity, she had done a fair many things as she grew older. She had given up scribing despite her love for poetry and tales of history and fiction and had instead taken up the dagger for her King and country after overhearing her grandfather writing a report to King Thranduil that they needed to find more scouts or volunteers willing to join in fighting against spiders and orcs. Though she has a weak constitution, Anoriel was insistent to her grandfather and brother that she needed to take the mandatory training to be able to become a scout. This led to her and her brother joining at the same time, though to her amusement and to Meludir's dismay, they were put at separate units. Anoriel was put into the Ground Unit and she endeavoured to do her best despite her need to pause in training to catch her breath. Despite all this, Meludir still managed to find a way to keep close to Anoriel and though it was stifling for Anoriel, she did not seek time for herself to be alone. When she was not part of the scouting missions, she is oft at home, writing what she could afford to write or reading the small selection of books that she was able to gain access to. Both of these activities involved Meludir or Feren accompanying her. This was her daily routine. Even with the odd looks that was thrown her way and the wide berth she received when she enters a space. She took all this in stride and went on with her days the best she can with her brother and grandfather. She never told her grandfather or her brother that she was conscious of the fact that she had heard of what people would call her. But even worse was what they would call her family. "Bad enough that her mother was a servant of Morgoth, now she had tainted our people as well." But not all people were this way. Others were more detached than fully invested in who she was. And for that, she appreciated that detachment. She was well aware that she had few friends and that her only companion was Meludir but she contented herself with it. She knew her place and it was in silence that she would reassure her brother that she was unbothered by those rumours and whispers. She was content with the scouting missions, reading and small bits of writing she would do. She treasured these moments and clung to it tightly. And with her family, she was glad enough for the silence since her brother's laughter and her grandfather's smiles filled the hole where friends should have been in. The Disappearance of Magildur and Matámelcan By the time the Captain General of the Greatwood and his son disappeared, Anoriel and Meludir had turned two centuries and were serving the Greatwood daily as scouts. They were not well-acquainted with the Captain General or his son despite their run in with Matámelcan and despite the fact that he and his father oversaw training. It was not the way things were done. Lowly Silvan elves of a much lower status in comparison with those who had risen in their ranks had no business to seek out the higher ranking. That was what was taught to them and they had accepted it. Yet despite it all, Anoriel still joined in the kingdom's grieving when the Captain General Magildur was announced missing alongside his son. She had meant to write to the king to offer her condolences but felt it out of her place to reach out to their leader and had instead burned the short eulogy she had written. The Quest for Erebor The Feast of Starlight Fading Personality There are many things to describe Anoriel with. But if you were to ask her family about her, Meludir would have readily described her with a "light yet melancholic tone" and that "she laughed as if she was unaware of the reason why she laughs". Were it Feren who is approached, he would have easily said "Despite her brokenness, she endeavours to fix those with cracks despite her shattered form." Anoriel is indeed one to make light of her own sadness and focus entirely on others' plights as if they were graver than her own. And though it is to be commended for her selflessness, it is also a source of frustration for Meludir. Health Happy AU In an Alternate Universe where Oropher, Magildur and Matámelcan does not die, Oropher meets Feren and the two eventually marry after Oropher confesses to an attachment to Meludir and Anoriel. Though Anoriel is still damaged by Erumollien's actions, she received a wider support system and was able to pursue her dream of scribing while also serving as a scout for the Greatwood. Bittersweet AU Quotes * "I at least know why Adar does not speak to me now. I ripped Nanneth away from him." '' '- Anoriel upon learning of Erumollien and Dayao's story''' * "I am sorry you have to grieve over your parents, Mel. But don't worry, there will always be the sunlight to look forward to! I know you love seeing it when we have been under Mirkwood's shadows for too long. Think of your grief as Mirkwod's shadows and given time, you will see the sunlight again. I promise." '- Anoriel to Meludir after Valdaglerion and Tirannaniel's funerals' * "I wish for a mortal life for then my soul shall enter Mandos' Halls and in there I shall provide company with my mother. For it is her loneliness I cannot wish upon her to suffer and you and Meludir will live past the grief, past the heartache and past pain itself. But who shall my mother have but no one save for her own thoughts and fears to keep her mind at night." '- Anoriel to Feren regarding her choice of a mortal life' * "It is a love like theirs I know I shall never have. Nor do I have the right to seek such a love." '- Anoriel to Fíli' * "I am only sorry I never told him my name." '- Anoriel about Fíli after the Battle of the Five Armies' * "I am alright, my brother. It is nothing." '- Anoriel to Meludir after the Battle of the Five Armies' * "What weakness should one possess but the fear of loneliness? One of abandonment? What is the harbinger of such an occurrence but many? It can be at the ceasing of smiles or the averting of gazes. But for me, it shall be the thunder of the skies. For it is such a thunder that awoke me into realising that the man I revered and loved as father can never come to love a wretch such as I." '- Anoriel's only written thought in regards to herself' * "What value we hold to love! What reverence! What worship! We are unaware when its sweet poison touched our unconsenting lips yet when we realise that we have this affliction we readily welcome it. This poison can incapacitate, it can kill, it can cause laughter and sorrow. And sometimes, this disease can grant life. Yet I find myself leery of such potions and promises. For not once has love ascertained its harmlessness to me. Have I a heart of rotting wood that its allure is lost to me? For my brother loves me and freely speaks it, my grandfather repeats to me of his love yet here I sit in shadows, cautious of imparting such affections on the deserving. Mayhaps a heart of iron is better suited to me that I might harm those I hold dear for fear that I give them something they can render me helpless with." '- Anoriel's thoughts on love, this document was burned five minutes after composition' Notes * 1 Amarth means Doom and Gugma is the Cebuano translation of Love. Cebuano being used as one of the examples for the Eastern languages in Middle Earth Category:Minor Characters Category:Elves Category:Characters